Pickoff appointed Chair of Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine's Department of Community Health

December 14, 2005

DAYTON, Ohio--Arthur S. Pickoff, M.D., professor and current chair of the Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed, additionally, the new chairperson for the Department of Community Health, effective immediately. The Department of Community Health at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine comprises research centers of excellence, educational programs, and several award-winning community outreach programs.

"Over the last few years, I have worked rather closely on several projects with Community Health in my role as educator and researcher at the medical school. The level of expertise and the productivity I found impressed me. One of my goals is to develop linkages and collaborations among the divisions in the Department of Community Health and between those divisions and the university and the school as a whole, especially in the clinical arena."

The Department of Community Health ranks 17th out of 125 medical schools for its total research awards granted by the National Institutes of Health in FY 2004 for the area of "Public Health and Preventive Medicine." Its divisions include:

Aerospace Medicine

Cancer Prevention and Control

Center for Healthy Communities

Center for Interventions, Treatment and Addictions Research

Health Systems Management

Lifespan Health Research Center

Howard Part, M.D., dean of the Boonshoft School of Medicine, says that the search committee was impressed by his many outstanding attributes and vision for the department. "Dr. Pickoff brings a wealth of talent to this position," he says, "and his leadership style and vision is a perfect match for this highly successful department."

A native New Yorker, Pickoff received his M.D. degree at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed his residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric cardiology at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida, where he was also an NIH trainee in cardiac electrophysiology. Pickoff came to Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in 1999, after serving as director of the Section of Pediatric Cardiology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

Pickoff's research interests have focused upon pediatric cardiology, including the pharmacology of anti-arrhythmic agents in the pediatric patient and the electrophysiology of the immature heart, with special emphasis on autonomic modulation of electrophysiological responses. He has received numerous research grants from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health. Pickoff has published 12 book chapters and more than 70 articles in scientific and medical journals.

Also active in the community, Pickoff serves as immediate past-president of the Miami Valley Division of the American Heart Association Board of Advisors and, was a research grant reviewer for the Southern and Ohio Valley Affiliates. He sits on the boards of the Children's Medical Center Board of Trustees, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Ohio Valley Affiliate of the American Heart Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (Ohio) Executive Board.

Pickoff will replace Robert Reece, Ph.D., current chairperson of community health, who is retiring from Wright State after more than 35 years of service.